Bandai Namco Opens Japan’s Largest VR Center This Summer

Bandai Namco Entertainment will open Japan’s largest virtual reality center for a limited time in the Kabukicho district in Shinjuku, Tokyo this summer. The VR Zone Shinjuku center will be located where the Shinjuku Tokyu Milano building once stood (before closing at the end of 2014), and it will have 3,600 square meters (about 39,000 square feet) of floor space.

The center will use anime and manga characters in its VR experiences, and will include 10 types of VR experiences that use VR goggles as well as projectors that put images on walls and floors. Namco will manage the VR center with its expertise in arcade management. The facility will also offer food and drinks.

Bandai Namco Entertainment is leasing the temporary facility being built by Tokyu Corporation. Nikkei reports that the center can operate for one to two years, until Tokyu Group breaks ground on its redevelopment project for the site.

Bandai Namco Entertainment previously showcased VR technology in its “VR Zone: Project I Can” center at the Diver City Tokyo Plaza in Tokyo from April to October last month. That exhibit offered six games to test VR technology, including Gundam and Armored Trooper Votoms VR experiences.